Electrical conductor for lighting purposes.



No. 840,634. PATENTED JAN. 8, 19m.

' I. LADOFP. ELECTRICAL CONDUCTOR FOR LIGHTING runrosns.

APPLICATION FILED D30. 2. 1903.

curing'itinapure sired form in molds under TESIP TEN orrron. j

'ISADOR LADOFF, oF SCHENECTADY, NEW- YORK, AssreNong Br niREcT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, 'IO PHILIP o. more O NEW YORK, N. Y., AND ANNA M. LADoFr. or scHENEo'rADY, NEW YORK.

ELECTRICAL CONDUCTOR Fon Llel-ii'me; PURPOSES Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 8, 190.7.

7 Application filed December 2,1903- Serial No. 1831528.

To all whom it may concern; ,1 Be it known that I, ISADOR LADO-FF, a' citizen of the United States, residing in Schen-,

ectady, county of Schenectady, andS'tate of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Electrical Conductors for Lightin Purposes, of which the'following isaspeci cation. I

My invention relates .to'the constitution of that part or parts of'an electricalconductor which are adapted to produce. illumination. when the current isturned} on"f, as, for1n-' stance, the pencils of the iarc lightl;

Myiresearcheshave demonstrated that the metal titanium possesses properties which when that metal .cheiiu'eallyuncombined with carbon is introduced I sultin' light issuch as to avoid the'ldisproporr tion 0 the redorother col'orIli'nes. obj ect1on able in carbon pencils "and to approach more closely than has" heretoiorebeen accomplished the desired whiteness of=, sunlight.

The titanium may be incorporated'mto: the pencil in many difi'erent'ways,according to conditions presented by anyplartieularcase. To illustrate, for instance, pencils embodying my invention for use in the arc-lightas follows: Titanium itself-be ing a.comparativelypoor condujctorof elece tricity, to say nothing of the difficulty of roof titanium and other metals -as, for instance, the alloyoftita'nium -and .iron now procurable in the'market and known as ferrotitaniumand have pulverizedthis alloy.

To the resulting powder I' added afsuflici'ent quantity of any available binding material as, for'instanee, water, glycerin,--tar, lmseedoil, or the like'-to 'impart'to the powder ad-.

hesion and plasticity, such as to enable the material to be pressed or s 'uirtedinto the dehydraulic or other .pressures after the manner, for instance, in

into'th'e'composition 1 I of the pencilof the-are. glitresultin a'not'a ble increase of candle-p ave-produced state, I have taken an a loy' The resulting pencils were allowed to dr 1n the open an under room temperature or several hours, it being 1mr. carbon pencils are nowproduced for-a similar purpose.

portant, as will be ap reciated in this art, to

avoid a too rapid drymg, which tends to distort the shape of the encils. After this preliminary air-drying t h dried in an oven .at a temperature of about 290 centigrade or thereabout for about forty-eight hours. After this the pencils were packed carefully 'in carbon and subjected for about two days and two nights to a e pencils were further tem erature of from l,200 to 1,500 ce'nti-i and thus finished ready for" use. These pencils were subjected to the current in an ordixnary arc-light lamp .and with the advantageous. results ,above described. In casesin which it is desirable to use my pencil with an I gra e, after'which' the pencils were cleaned, I

alternating'current I have found it preferable to combine by mixin with the aforesaid powdered alloy asmal proportion of powdered carbon say .five per centum', for instance. carboinreduction process is employed, such addition of carbon may be dispensed-with,

Alloys of other metals with. titanium may be sir'nilarl em loyed;

' Itfol ows t rat in all cases my pencils com- I,

prise a metallic element having conductivity adequate for the purpose -of the arc-light,

If ,.ferrotitanium produced .by the I whidh said element is homogeneously distributed-throughout the body of the pencil likewise homogeneously distributed. My-said pencils are therefore in all'cases properly char-, acterized as being essentially metallic pencils, as distinguished from carbon pencils, for instance, or from pencils consisting of compositions of other ingredients which are supported or rendered adequately conductive,

in combination with the titaniferous element" or both, by separately constructed andapplied meta c devicessuch, for'instance, as wires, tubes, or cylinders, &c..or by merely external metallic coatings otherwise produced as by deoxidation of thesurface of the pencil.

It will be observed that the titaniferous element in my pencils exists in all cases in .substantial'proportioiissay not less in any a case than three per centum of. the massand that when so existing it dominates the more conductive metallic element with which it is,

ioo

as aforesaid, associated and controlsthe behavior of the latter in the pencil, so that the iron, for instance, which, as well known, is.

unavailable by itself alone for such pencils,

owing to sparkin when the current is turned.

on and the ina equacy and unsatisfactory character of the resulting light, falls to evince any of these prohibiting characteristics even' though it should constitute as high as eighty per cent. of the mast of my pencils i -On the contrary, the aforesaid. advantages-charac- -teristic of my pencils are nevertheless maintained, the spectrum characteristic of, titanium predominating.

That my said pencils are properly designated as metallic pencils follows from the said metallic pencils is of great importance reduced to molten condition.

and advantage. It results in the elimination in my positive electrode of the .so-called crater formed during the passage of the current in the carbon electrode and in which crater the heat and light of the highest intensity is concentrated, On the contrary, the'most intense heat and light are located at the upper surface of my negative electrode,

and also the greatest dissemination of light is from the are itself, whereby, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, is secured a great increase not only ,of light efficiency, but also of light distribution. Among the numerous other advantages secured by re'ason of the metallic character of my pencils may be mentioned the resulting considerably lower amperage required for their operation as compared with carbon or other non-metallic electrodes and the unprecedented durability, resistance to the influence of the elements, and elegance of appearance, due to the metallic character of my pencils, must also not be overlooked.

It will be obvious that in cases where .the titanium is introduced into my pencils in metallic stateas, for instance, in an alloy with other metals, as above describedmy pencils may be directly cast into molds of suitable shape, the alloy having been previously If desired, the hereinbefore-described addition of carbon may be effected in such cases by introducing that element into the molten mass in any convenient manner.

As to the percentage of titanium in the pencil, this may be widely varied without destroying the characteristic advantages attributable to the titanium. I have in my experiments found that when the titanium is introduced into the pencil or other conductor in metallic state from fifteen to eighty per cent. of titanium giyes excellent results.

I am aware that it has been previouslysuggested that titanium in chemically combined state with carbon, known under the designation of carbid of titanium, might be used in the constructionof the pencils for arelighting, and I do not Wish to be understood as claiming as my invention any such use of titanium, which has proved unsuitable for the purposes described. It will be observed that in the pencils embodying my invention the carbon is not in such chemically combined state with the titanium.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following, viz:

1. An arc-light pencil consisting for the most part of an alloy of titanium with another metal possessing greatcr conductivity than titanium.

2. An arc-light pencil consisting for the most part of an alloy of titanium with iron.

3. An arc-light pencil comprising an alloy of titanium with other metal possessing greater electrical conductivity than titanium, said alloy constituting more than ten per centum of said pencil.

4. An arc-light pencil comprising an alloy of titanium with iron, said alloy constitutii'ig more than ten per centum of said pencil.

5. An arc-light pencil comprising an alloy of titanium with iron, said titanium constituting more than five per centum of said alloy.

6. An arc-light pencil comprising an alloy of titanium with other metal possessing greater electrical conductivity than titanium, said titanium constituting more than five per centum of said alloy.

7. An electrode for arc-lighting consisting of an alloy of titanium and other metal possessing greater electrical conductivity than titanium.

8. An electrode for arc-lighting consisting of an alloy of titanium and iron.

9. An electrode composed of ferrotitanium.

10. An electrode containing ferro titanium.

11. An electrode containing considerable amounts of iron and titanium in a metallic state.

12. An electrode formed'from an alloy of five parts of iron.

' ISADOR LADOFF. Witnesses:

WALTER D. EDMoNDs. PHILIP O. PECK. 

